Free time

Snuggler was a big baby. She was 9lb, 2oz at birth, and weighed 30 pounds at nine months. All that mass in a baby-length bundle was like hauling a medicine ball around; she was my only child who didn't spend her first year in the baby carrier. My back couldn't take it. But I got so accustomed to hefting Snuggler that when I went to pick up a friend's (much smaller) baby, I almost heaved the tyke across the room! I wasn't expecting him to be so light.

I'm having a similar experience now that the book manuscript has been submitted. I have work to do, work that's piled up and begging to be done, but the load is so much lighter it feels like next to nothing. A couple of hours here, a few hours there, and I could toss it off. If you'll pardon an indelicate analogy, the sense of liberation is as amazing as the first time you pee after having given birth to your first child. Who knew there was that much space in a bladder (or a day)?

And so I contemplate what I shall do with my new-found free time, the time that, pre-book, felt so tightly packed. There is a great deal that went un-done around the house in the past several months, so I need to wrestle myself into doing repairs and closet cleaning. A full fridge and pantry would be of benefit, too. I've already planned some art projects to go with our homeschooling, which is a luxury we haven't had for the past two months. I owe Little Guy some chemistry experiments.

But mostly my mind is turning to new projects...